
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. $ 



. 



MHNHHM 






CONSIDERATIONS 



ON THE 



NECESSITY OF ESTABLISHING 



AN 



Agricultural College, 



AND HAVING MORE OP THE 



CMlteen of Wealthy Citizens, 



EDUCATED FOR THE 



PROFESSION OF FARMING. 



ALBANY : 

PRINTED BY WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS, 

At their Bookstore, corner of State and Pearl Streets. 

18 19. 



Ill 



CONSIDERATIONS 



ON THE 



NECESSITY OF ESTABLISHING 



AN 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 



AND HAVING MORE OF THE 



CMYftren oi Wealthy Citizens. 



4 * • 



EDUCATED FOR THE 



PROFESSION OF FARMING. 



ALBANY : 

PRINTED BY WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS, 

AT THEIR BOOKSTORE, IN THE WHITE HOUSE, CORNER OP STATE 
Wi^s AND PEARL STREETS. 

************* 

1819. 



3* 



Q 



5)3* 



CONSIDERATIONS, &c. 



1 he purpose of the following observations is to 
recommend an institution for the education of 
agriculterists, or, in more familiar language, to 
teach the business of farming;. 

The necessity of such an institution is the first 
thing that will be required to be shewn before ad- 
vocates for it can be expected, and this I think 
will appear in a convincing manner from the fol- 
lowing considerations. 

There are now thousands of wealthy citizens 
in this state who do not know what to do with 
their sons. In the first place, without any deter- 
minate object in view, they give them a liberal 
education, or rather, they send them for four years 
to a college to obtain the reputation of having a 
graduate's diploma, and so much instruction in 
the dead languages and the ordinary sciences as 
they are compelled or disposed to attend to ; after 
that there are only three professions from which 
ordinarily they are to choose their means of living 
and rising into consequence — law> physic and di- 
vinity ; but so great are the numbers of young 



4 

gentlemen destined for those professions, that their 
prospects are truly dismal ; but what other provi- 
sion can their fathers make for them ? Turn them 
to some mechanic employment ? that is consid- 
ered too degrading ; To manufacturing ? it has 
been tried and proved ruinous ; To mercantile bu- 
siness ? that too is overstocked ; To the army or 
navy ? there is little room there, and many rea- 
sons against it. To farming ? nothing, it is said, 
can be made by it. 

Fn most European countries, the manufactur- 
ing department affords a vast opening for respect- 
able enterprise, and gives employment to millions. 
Its business can scarcely be over done. In it are 
found some of the most important and influential 
men of the nation to which they belong. In res- 
pectability, wealth and usefulness, few in other 
departments excel them. Hither then, without 
offence to the most fastidious pride, may the off- 
spring of families of every rank be directed for 
employment. To us this department may in some 
sense be said to be absolutely shut, a circumstance 
which most materially narrows the field of profit- 
able and honorable pursuit. With us so few 
are the channels of what is esteemed exclu- 
sively reputable business, by the proud classes of 
society, that a multitude, too great for their capa- 
cities rushes into them at once. Happily for the 
agricultural department it has, among all the ca- 
pricious and absurd modifications and revolutions 
of notions, remained exempt from dishonorable 



imputation ; but still it is guarded by a terrific 
phantom, which threatens obscurity and poverty 
to those who shall attempt to enter it, still repea- 
ting, that by farming nothing is to be made. 

That nothing is to be made by farming, howev- 
er, is an opinion easy to be refuted, and that will 
presently be done ; in the mean while, some fur- 
ther preliminary observations are to be made. 

There are no entailed estates in our country : 
and there are very few, however enormous, that 
may not be dissipated by the immediate descen- 
dants of those who have acquired them. It may 
therefore be said, with little qualification, that ev- 
ery person, whatever may be his patrimony, must 
calculate on being the arbiter of his own fortune. 
As many young men are now brought up in opu- 
lent families, the inevitable consequence will be 
that they, excepting such as may fortunately es- 
cape the effects of their education, must eventual- 
ly sink out of sight from the respectable part of the 
community. In the mean time the descendants of 
the industrious mechanics, following the lessons 
and examples of their fathers, together with those 
extraordinary geniuses, that not unfrequently rise 
from the mansions of obscurity, will by their native 
powers and unsnbduable energies, mount to the 
highest eminences, command the wealth, and rule 
the destinies of their country. It is melancholy 
to look back and see how many families of high 
repute, have, merely by fostering a despicable, in- 
ert, family pride, and disdaining such occupations 



for their children as were only suited to their tal- 
ents, and abandoning them to their wayward 
inclinations, become exterminated from the 
ranks in which they formerly stood. And it is 
pitiable, truly pitiable, to see, as any one in every 
section of the country may see, by looking not far 
about him, a family raised to opulence and char- 
acter by the genius, enterprise and industry of its 
head, exhibiting, from the same cause, sure and 
dismal presages of its speedily submerging far be- 
low the level of its present stand in society. — 
Who cannot point to some such in which not one 
of its branches can be selected with the least pros- 
pect of a surviving reputation distinguished from 
that of the common mass of mankind, after the 
head of it shall have ceased to uphold it ? And 
how is this to be accounted for ? By that same 
pernicious pride and most culpable tenderness, 
which forbid persons, elevated by their circum- 
stances but a little above the common level, to 
subject their children to that severe discipline 
which is indispensably necessary to prepare them 
for such callings, no matter which, as are indica- 
ted by their capacities and the natural bent of their 
dispositions. Such persons do to their sons the 
office of the angel of paradise, in guarding, against 
their entrance, the only place where happiness for 
them is to be found. Nor can it escape observa- 
tion, that to the neglect of early and systematic 
religious and moral instruction, can evidently be 
traced the annihilation of families once holding 
conspicuous stations in the community. 



It may here be proper also to make some re- 
marks on the notion which is generally entertain- 
ed of the hardships, sometimes called cruelties, 
of discipline. The discipline of young persons it 
nothing more than compelling them to do what 
they ovght to do, and must do, to escape a com- 
paratively ignominious life, but what they are 
naturally unwilling to do, and by proper means 
to impress on them the habit of doing it. This in 
the operation may not be pleasant to the patient, 
but the habit once induced will become the source 
of his greatest enjoyments. As some confirma- 
tion of the truth of this remark, 1 have heard per- 
sons, who had in their earlier age passed through 
a course of the severest discipline, animadvert on 
it with the highest satisfaction ; and with recollec- 
tions of gratitude to their, once considered cruel, 
master, ascribe to it all the consequence they had 
acquired in life. On the contrary, I have heard 
bitter upbraidings from those who have in after 
life wofully experienced the effects of its not hav- 
ing been enforced by those who had the controul 
of them in the days of their infancy and youth. 

I believe every reader of this will, from his own 
experience, be ready to testify to the justness of 
this remark. For myself I can truly say, that 
there is no hardship which I have suffered to pre- 
pare me for the duties of life, nor any which I 
have endured in the prosecution of them, which 
I now regret If I have any one thing more than 
others to regret, in my recollections of the past, 



8 

it is, that stronger injunctions have not been in- 
forced, or that a greater self-con troul, and a 
course of more scrupulous and assiduous perfor- 
mance of duties have not been assumed. The 
pains of additional labor would have been abun- 
dantly compensated by the feelings of self-ap- 
plause, which a retrospection would afford, and 
the satisfaction yielded by a consciousness of 
powers better matured for actions more extensive- 
ly useful. 

On this topic I will make one other remark 
which, as to its importance and truth, I recom- 
mend to the serious and deliberate consideration 
of those wealthy parents, whose anxieties to pro- 
vide for the happiness of their children, render 
them incapable of attending to the plainest dic- 
tates of reason and the most impressive lessons 
of experience. 

A youth supplied with cash to the amount of 
his wishes, to be employed for his pleasures in 
such ways as his undisciplined inclinations may 
lead him into, and which will most probably be 
to dissipated company, gambling houses, and the 
resorts of obscenity and intemperance, will enjoy 
much less real happiness than an apprentice un- 
der the strictest master of a mechanic art. Be- 
sides, such a youth must expect ultimately to find 
the apprentice of the mechanic, and many a far- 
mer's son, infinitely his superior in the estimation 
of the public, as well as in the abundance of his 
comforts ; and if he has any reflection, he will 



look back with bitter but unavailing regret on the 
cruel indulgence of his parents. Better for him 
would it have been if he had been the offspring of 
poverty, or, as is sometimes the melancholy fact, 
better that he never had been born. But should he. 
by a happy constitution, or a fortunate concurrence 
of circumstances, be kept from the p iths of disho- 
nor and vice, still the chance is great that his pur- 
suits will be after frivolous objects, and that his 
character through life will be marked with the 
stamp of insignificance. To such a doom do many 
of our most wealthy and respectable citizens de- 
liberately devote their offspring. Cruel parents ! 
Neglecting to bring up a son to any busi- 
ness, trade or profession, whatever may be the 
rank or condition of the parent, is a crime of 
the deepest die — it is next to murder — It is the 
same thing as cutting off from society one of its 
members, whose usefulness, if a due discharge of 
parental duty had not been omitted, might have 
been eminently great — It is more — It is letting 
loose on society one, who, as he has not been taught 
to do any thing useful, must of necessity do mis- 
chief, for inaction is unnatural. If his constitu- 
tional powers, temper and disposition happen for- 
tunately to be feeble, mild and spiritless, he may 
be comparatively harmless. But the greater his 
powers, the more ardent his temper, the more per- 
verse his disposition, and the more inflated his 
pride, and these commonly go together, the great* 
er is the evil to be apprehended from him — It is 

a parent's devoting his child to that unhappy ex- 

B 



10 

istenee, which is the inevitable lot of all who are 
not put into the road of useful employment, and 
often it happens that it is also consigning him to 
ignominy, coupled with every calamity of life, in 
its most terrible form — It is a crime of the worst 
kind against the community — It is one of the most 
cruel curses that a father can inflict on a son.* 
Let the biographies of eminent men be consul- 
ted, and it will be seen, that, superadded to the 
ordinary severities of their instructors or masters, 
their distinction is to be chiefly ascribed to self- 
imposed severities, deliberately adopted and per- 
severingly observed, till they have ri vetted the 
habits that gave the complexion of their for- 
tunes and determined their destinies. Such men 
have in their education and subsequent pursuits 
submitted themselves to privations and toils com- 
pared with which the apprenticeship and labors 
of the most active farmer may be said to be but of 
trifling amount. Without such self-imposed disci- 
pline, Franklin would not have risen above the 
standing of an ordinary printer. Washington, 
whose name is encircled with a halo of glory un- 
paralleled among mortals, would have been con- 
founded with the common planters of Virginia, 
had he not, from early life, subjected himself to a 
uniform series of labors and sufferings, both of bo- 
dy and mind, of which the most industrious farm- 



* The author has been informed, that in a town in this state, not 
as populous as Albany now is, and not le: s healthful, out of forty young 
men of the most respectable families, who had reached the age ol 
manhood, and who had not been educated for any profession, not our 
Survived his fortieth vear. 



11 

er or mechanic cannot form an adequate idea. — 
It is nevertheless true, however, that the innate 
greatness of such men gives them a sublimity of 
feeling that makes their labors and sufferings 
comparatively light. And so will it be with all 
who undertake a profession with that exalted en- 
thusiasm which is not to be daunted, nor chilled 
for a moment, by prospects of the greatest obsta- 
cles, but, ever confident of victory, will encounter 
them with the utmost promptitude and alacrity, 
however formidable and appalling their character 
or appearances may be. 

The chief difference between the noble and iff- 
noble of the human race is this : The one, after 
having obtained a distinct view of his duties, and 
the necessary means for attaining a noble end, 
prescribes to himself a conduct for accomplishing 
his purposes from which he will never deviate, 
whatever may be the temptations or discourage- 
ments to induce him to relinquish it or to relax in 
his efforts. The other will, on the appearance of 
every little difficulty, shrink into himself like a 
snail, or sink into a helpless state of despondency. 

Read the choice of Hercules when addressed 
by Fame and Pleasure personified as deities. Had 
he been intimidated by the labors which the first 
required of him, or accepted, like many an unfor- 
tunate youth of our times, of the promised dalli- 
ances of the other, instead of that immortal fame 
which he acquired, he would have sunk, a misera- 
ble, debauched, effeminate wretch into the gulf of 
oblivion. 



12 

Nothing is more idle or preposterous than the 
notion that success or celebrity, in any sphere, can 
be obtained without great exertion and intense 
application. Reason at the first glance pronoun- 
ces it foolish ; and every day's observation shows 
it to be false ; and yet it seems, some parents think 
that their sons will become something without 
any labor to qualify them for it, and as a conse- 
quence, their sons dream of distinctions without 
an effort to attain them. They expect to glide 
smoothly down stream on the credit of a family 
name, or a family's riches, or possibly on the repu- 
tation of a superior genius, without the necessity 
of combatting contrary winds and currents into a 
port where accumulation of wealth and honor 
await them. Miserable dreams ! fatal delusions ! 
No : young men must have it impressed on them, 
as an undeniable self-evident proposition, that they 
must work, and work hard both in qualifying them- 
selves for the business of their profession, whatever 
that may be, and in conducting it afterwards, if 
they have any ambition to be seen in the ranks of 
honorable men ; and that all their powers must be 
strenuously, systematically and perseveringly ex- 
erted, if they aim at any thing like superiority. 

By the infallible oracles of divine inspiration we 
are taught, that no man can obtain a good charac- 
ter as a christian, unless he denies himself, takes 
up his cross — cuts off a right hand, or pulls out an 
eye, if necessary for his advancement to perfec- 
tion — Figurative expressions, denoting the ex- 
tremes of self-denial, fortitude and .voluntary suf- 



13 

fering. The same doctrine may, with a qualified 
propriety, be addressed to those who aim at dis- 
tinction in any of the professions of civil life. 
Whatever may be the genius or natural powers, 
there must be the labor improbus, hard labor, 
strong exertions, struggles against improper pro- 
pensities, a rigid observance of rules, a radical 
extermination of evil habits, a scrupulous im- 
provement of time, an unwavering perseverance, 
and a judicious exercise of a well disciplined 
reason in the selection of means for the attain- 
ment of the objects to be achieved. 

A generous youth, anxious about his fate, waked 
from his reveries, and adverting to his lost or mis- 
applied time, will often exclaim with the poet, 

" The bell strikes one ! — How much is to be done ! 
My hopes and fears start up alarm'd, 
And o'er life's narrow verge look down — 
On what !" 

and redouble his exertions so to improve his nat- 
ural powers as that they may be displayed in a 
manner the most eminent in the character he has 
chosen to appear in on the stage of life ; diffuse 
to others the greatest good, and procure for him- 
self the greatest applause, with an approving con- 
science. 

These observations are made to wipe away the 
flimsy objections which that foolish womanish 
tenderness, and that contemptible pride, which, 
are the usual concomitants of an imbecility of in- 
tellect, may raise against the discipline and labor 
that will be required by the institution propqsod to 
be created. 



14 

But perhaps our young gentlemen, or their 
foolish sympathising parents, will be afraid that 
working like a farmer may spoil the delicate com- 
plexion of their hands, and destroy that mark by 
which they are to be distinguished from the vul- 
gar. What a ridiculous notion of merit ! What 
a contrast to the opinions and practice of the most 
admired eras of antiquity, when man rose in 
unparalleled grandeur ! When Cincinnatus, after 
having, as dictator of the proudest and most 
powerful nation on earth, performed such deeds 
as have shed a superlative lustre of glory about 
his name, and transmitted it as an object of 
supreme admiration through every age, returned 
to the plough, and resumed his occupation as a 
farmer for a living. 

" In ancient times, the sacred plough employ'd 

The kings and awful fathers of mankind, 

And some, compar'd with whom your insect tribes 

Are but the beings of a summer's day, 

Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm 

Of mighty war, then with unwearied hand, 

Disdaining little delicacies, seiz'd 

The plough, and greatly independent liv'd." 

As in our civil institutions we have nearly eman- 
cipated ourselves from all the trammels bequeath- 
ed by the ages of barbarism, and with which the 
nations of Europe yet remain shackled, so let us 
also discard such of their customs, and fashions, 
and rules of taste, as have not a spark of reason to 
vindicate them ; but on the contrary, must, on the 
slightest examination, appear notoriously deroga- 
tory to that independence and superiority of char- 



15 

acter of which it is the glory of the Americans to 
be able to boast. 

All kinds of useful labor and hardihood, connec- 
ted with an unimpeachable morality, and a deco- 
rous deportment, deserve respect and honorable 
treatment ; and wherever the contrary is custo- 
mary, a corruption of manners is indicated, which, 
so far from descending to emulate, we should treat 
with the proud scorn of conscious superiority. 

Every thing in man of an effeminate cast must 
detract from his character, and if voluntarily ac- 
quired, or cherished as a matter of value, deserves 
contempt. Such is the lady-like lily hand of a pet- 
it maitre ; which is about as proper an object to be 
proud of, as the long nails of the Asiatic beaux, 
cherished and guarded with idolatrous care, to 
shew that they are above the rank of laborers, and 
for the preservation of which, elegant ivory tubes 
are worn at the ends of their fingers. 

A number of considerations not capable of enu- 
meration, besides those already anticipated, crowd 
on theTeflecting mind in favor of an institution, es- 
pecially in our country, that shall have for its pri- 
mary object instruction in theoretic and practical 
agriculture. But it may be asked, on the intro- 
duction of the subject, why have not institutions 
of this kind been formed and patronized in older 
countries, especially in England, where agricul- 
ture has so much engaged the attention of its first 
characters, and where it has been carried to such 
a height of perfection ? The reason is obvious. In 
most foreign countries the fee of the soil is o-ener- 



16 

ally in the gentry, who besides their tenantries, 
have extensive farms under their immediate su- 
perintendence ; who make farming in some meas- 
ure a business, and who can afford to make experi- 
ments and communicate such as result in improve- 
ments of consequence, to those, who, pursuing a 
steady course, known to be safe and profitable, 
will not hazard a departure from it without such 
a demonstration. Such improvements are more- 
over communicated to their societies or boards of 
agriculture, by which they are published for the 
benefit of the public, and thus constantly recipro- 
cated among all who are engaged in its interests. 
— The sons of such gentlemen farmers, from tho 
practice of which they are the constant witnesses, 
can hardly fail of acquiring a proficiency in the 
knowledge of agriculture, so far at least as to qual- 
ify them. for its superintendence. Thus, then, ev- 
ery landlord's farm, becomes to a certain degree, 
a school of practical agriculture, where experi- 
ments are constantly made, by wealthy, scientific, 
and practical men, to ascertain the best methods 
of profitable culture ; where the knowledge of it 
is transmitted as a family inheritance, and sheds its 
meliorating influence, immediately over a wide 
circle of tenantry, and remotely over the kingdom 
at large. And even in those countries there are not 
wanting some arrangements in their academical 
establishments for teaching the scientific parts, 
if not the actual practice of agriculture. But here 
circumstances are widely different. With but ve- 
ry few exceptions, we have no landlords and few. 



er still of that class who turn their attention to 
farming. It is the glory of our country, that with 
such rare exceptions, every farmer is the absolute, 
independent lord of his own territory, little as it 
may be, and works it with his own hands, and by 
his own hired laborers : His children are his pupils, 
whom he teaches from their infancy the mysteries 
of his calling ; but the mediocrity of his circum- 
stances, and his habitual prudence will not permit 
him to hazard experiments for improvements. 
What he knows of it as practised by his father, 
will be known by his children, and they will prob- 
ably during their lives, follow his track without 
deviation. Under such circumstances, agriculture 
must remain at a stand, although like other arts, 
its past progressive improvements, warrant the 
presumption that to its future no limits can be 
assigned. 

The agricultural societies organized and brought 
into action of late, operate principally by the stimu- 
lus of emulation ; and the good that they are cal- 
culated to do, and will unquestionably do, if con- 
tinued with the spirit with which they have star- 
ted, and with the improvements which time and 
experience will indicate, must be great, very great, 
in a department of business which of all others is 
the most important to our country. But it is evi- 
dent that the good derived from them is conveyed 
through one channel, broad indeed and deep, and 
having attached to it numerous ramificatious ; still 
there may be others leading to the same port, and 



18 

as essential to the effectual promotion of our na- 
tional prosperity. The institution now proposed 
will not be their rival, but rather a co-operator. 
Its essential difference of character will be, that, 
availing itself of all the improvements that have 
been made, and are constantly making, in the sci- 
ence and practice of agriculture, it will be a school 
where they will be taught in that perfection to 
which they have been carried by all those varie- 
gated means> and by all the experience of every 
nation, and every age, since men first emerged 
from a state of barbarism. It is intended not so 
much to give instruction to farmers as to make 
farmers from the other classes of society, which 
are stocked with such a superfluity of members 
that hordsof them must otherwise remain useless, 
or worse than useless to the community — And 
while this is doing it will shed a light over the 
profession, that may be greatly useful, even to 
those who are most eminent in it. 

The farming department in America cannot be 
overstocked, at least for centuries before us, so 
wide, so vast, so boundless is the field, that ima- 
gination cannot grasp the population sufficient to 
fill it ; and it is only in proportion as that flourish- 
es will be the substantial wealth, the power, the 
grandeur, and the happiness of our country. It is 
the only solid foundation on which our national 
prosperity can be erected > and therefore the object, 
of all others, that ought first and chiefly to en- 
gage the attention of government. No rational 



19 

scheme for its advancement can therefore, consis- 
tent with that wisdom which characterises true 
statesmen, be treated otherwise than with an im- 
partial and a deliberate investigation of its merits ; 
and if found eligible, whatever apparent difficul- 
ties may be in the way, its adoption must and will 
be effected. 

It is therefore true policy to draw into this field 
as many as possible, especially of young men, 
qualified for it by a suitable education, and pos- 
sessed of a capital sufficient to conduct their affairs 
to advantage. But how is such an acquisition to 
be effected ? 

At present there is no doubt that there are 
numbers of men of fortune in our state, and many 
of them large owners of lands, who would wish to 
qualify, as farmers, at least some of their sons, 
and give them suitable establishments as such, 
but are deterred from it by such considerations as 
the following. 

Success in every profession or calling depends 
on a perfect knowledge of it.— Such knowledge 
cannot be obtained without actual application for 
its attainment as a student or apprentice for a 
competent time. — The profession of a farmer, no 
less than that of a lawyer, a physician, a divine, a 
manufacturer, or of any of the mechanic arts, can- 
not be duly acquired without such application. — - 
For any one to undertake a business with which 
he is unacquainted, or rather for which he has not 
been regularly educated, is the height of folly, as 



20 

it must in all probability eventually ruin him. —In 
every kind of business there will be sharp compe- 
titions, and those who are the most adroit and skil- 
ful in it, will, with equal means and industry, 
make the most by it, and those who have not a com- 
petent knowledge of it must suffer in its pursuit. 

Now, how are the sons of wealthy gentlemen of 
other professions to acquire such knowledge of 
agriculture ? At present there is no other way than 
to put them out to serve as apprentices to farmers, 
To this there are many objections. From their 
previous education they will not be disposed to sub-* 
mit to the necessary discipline, and their masters 
will not have it in their power to enforce it — They 
may be associated with laborers whose manners 
will contaminate theirs — They will probably be 
destitute of all society by which they might be stim- 
ulated to further advances in their previous studies 
and a progress in refinement — Released from ade- 
quate restraints, they may be enticed, by profligate 
companions, into low-bred practices, and contrac^ 
disgraceful and ruinous habits. And, after all, in 
the best situations, they could learn little more 
than the business of a farmer in its most ordinary 
state. 

For all this there is no remedy but an institu- 
tion like that which is now proposed, the happy 
tendency of which, when once established, will 
beyond all doubt be abundantly demonstrated as 
soon as it shall be completely carried into opera- 
tion. 



21 

It will make agricultural pursuits more fashion- 
able, and engage in them the noblest spring of hu- 
man activity, the ambition to shine pre-eminent in 
a sphere of usefulness, of the most brilliant charac- 
ter, and the widest extended magnitude. 

It is a mistaken idea that nothing can be made 
by farming. Universal fact proves the contrary. — 
The chief part of our immense population lives by 
it, and lives too in a comfortable, and very many of 
it in a luxurious state. It is a fact, not now notic- 
ed for the information of our countrymen, who all 
know it, but as a contrast to what prevails on the 
other side of the Atlantic, where probably it will 
be considered incredible, that our farmers' tables 
are ordinarily furnished, three times a day through- 
out the year, with as much meat, besides a su- 
perabundance of vegetables, as their families and 
their laborers can use, and that two, out of the 
three meals a day, have commonly coffee or tea, 
with sugar and cream or milk for their accompa- 
niments. It is fervently to be wished, that a 
more economical mode of living were adopted — 
but so is the fact. Is this making nothing by far- 
ming ? Which of the other pursuits of life furnish 
more of the means of comfortable living ? Do we 
not often see it the source of riches and abundance, 
while many in other professions find it difficult to 
subsist ? It is the only one that is independent. 
Indebted to his industry, and the ordinary good- 
ness of Providence alone, the farmer can live 
should all others be annihilated, His bosom is 



o'c> 



free from the anxities which agitate others, who 
have Hot the same certainty of enjoying a compe« 
tency, who know not whether there will be suffi- 
cient openings for their industry, Whether their 
labors will be duly appreciated, or whether the 
chances on which success depends will eventuate 
for or against them. 

Hope, which only Can illumine the gloom that 
envelops humanity, and assuage its sufferings, 
holds her lamp, burning with a bright equable 
flame, before the cultivator of the earth ; while to 
others, it appears and disappears and appears 
again, like the wandering fire of an ignis fatutts, 
or flutters tike the faint light of a glimmering ta- 
per, or like a meteor blazes intensely for awhile, 
then vanishes for ever. 

Travel through Our country, especially the wes- 
tern parts of this state ; look at the groups of rosy, 
well clad children, that swarm from their dwell- 
ings, and cluster about the school houses ; observe 
the neatness and elegance of the farm houses as 
you pass them ; examine their appendages of out- 
houses, gardens, orchards and fields, stocked with 
cattle, or enriched with crops ripening for the har- 
vest, estimate their value ; go into the churches, 
raised in all their magnificence, from the surplus* 
ao-es of farms, and behold the brilliance of appear- 
ances there, where not a single object, with the 
marks of poverty on it, is found to disfigure the 
scene ; enter some of the stately abodes which will 
meet you with frequent occurrence ; see the pleii- 



23 

ty, independence, comfort and happiness predom- 
inant in them, which the lords of palaces might 
envy, but which they never can know ; ask if these 
are the fruits of a fortunate or prosperous ances- 
try ; you will be told, no! they have all been ex- 
tracted from the soil by a judicious and industri- 
ous application of their present owners to the bu- 
siness of agriculture. After this say, is there no- 
thing to be made by farming ? 

Little do many think what they make by it. — 
Let them only calculate the amount of every arti- 
cle that enters into the consumption of their fam- 
ilies, according to the prices which the inhabitants 
of cities pay, and they may obtain some idea of 
the produce of their farms. Most of them, and 
those not of the wealthiest, will no doubt, at the 
end of such a calculation, be astonished to find 
that, with all their economy and avoidance of ex- 
travagance, and notwithstanding their previous 
very different belief, they live at the rate of two or 
three thousand dollars a year : a fact easy to be 
ascertained by keeping regular accounts ; and yet 
many such have accumulated no ordinary fortunes 
to bequeath to their families. 

Englishmen, in their characteristic vain-glori*. 
ous manner, exult in the happy condition of their 
farmers ; and what is that condition ? They cul- 
tivate a soil not superior, but perhaps on an ave- 
rage rather inferior to ours. The price of their 
land, compared to that of ours, is exorbitant, and 
rents of necessity are equally exorbitant, They 



24 

possess no incommunicable arcana for managing 
their business ; on the contrary, the American ge- 
nius is well calculated to outstrip them, and will 
most undoubtedly do so, under the influence of 
that spirit which has become so active of late, in 
all the niceties of husbandry. One third, proba- 
bly one half, if not more, of the fruits of their la- 
bor is taken from them, without remuneration— 
by tithes to support an ecclesiastical nobility with 
its numberless dependents, — by taxes to pay the 
interest of a national debt, of incomprehensible 
magnitude, incurred for carrying on a savage war- 
fare against the human race, almost without in- 
termission, for centuries past, and for the support 
of an aristocracy, of which the thousands that 
compose it, each must be supported in a style of 
magnificence which the first magistrate of this na- 
tion cannot afford— by the poor-rates exacted 
from them to keep a great portion of their im- 
mense population from actual starvation — and by 
what is drawn from them in private charities by 
that enormous mass of pauperism, utterly incon- 
ceivable to Americans, which overwhelms the na- 
tion, and, not being adequately provided for by the 
public, continually assails their humanity with ir- 
resistable importunities. It is from this compuL 
sive display of British humanity, that Britons, 
proud Britons ! have obtained a character at 
home so perfectly the reverse of what their pub- 
lic acts have indelibly stamped on them abroad. 



25 

If then the English farmer, after having so 
much of the fruits of his labor taken from him, 
can, as represented by his own countrymen, live 
in an enviable style, what must we say of the 
American, whose contributions for the support of 
government, and all needful charitable purposes, 
are comparatively but as a drop in the bucket, or 
the small dust in the balance ! 

Ofortunatos, si sua norint bona, colonos ! 
But with all these superior advantages of the 
American farmer, it is nevertheless true, and it is 
no less true in regard to every other profession, 
that he who has not been in the way of becoming 
thoroughly acquainted with actual farming, will 
make nothing by it, or rather will siuk his fortune 
in the attempt. A rich young man, sent into the 
country to prosecute farming, without an educa- 
tion for it, will, most assuredly, be cozened and 
swindled out of his property, till all be lost ; on 
the contrary, a competent knowledge of his busi- 
ness, to be acquired only by a regular education 
for it, would make it to him, if not a mine of 
wealth, at least the means of an affluent living. 

The inference from all these facts and observa- 
tions then is, that there is and must remain an in- 
surmountable barrier to prevent the sons of men of 
other professions, and especially of the rich, from 
becoming farmers, unless there be some institu- 
tion in which they can receive an education for 
that profession in a manner different from what 

is now possible : — That it would be incalculably 

D 



26 

for the benefit of our country if the surplus candi- 
dates for other professions, could be diverted to 
this, the most useful of all : — And therefore, that 
an institution specially intended for this purpose is 
of the greatest importance ; — that it is demanded 
by every consideration of the wisest policy, and 
that the resources of government cannot be bet- 
ter employed for any other object for which gov- 
ernments are formed. 

It may be called an agricultural school, acade- 
my or college, no matter which ; but if any im- 
portance is to be attached to names, I would give 
it the most respectable, and call it THE AGRI- 
CULTURAL COLLEGE OF THE STATE 
OF NEW- YORK. 

Its primary object should be to teach the theory 
and practice of agriculture, with such branches of 
other sciences as may be serviceable to them : 
its secondary, to make improvements. 

This state has been liberal, almost to excess in 
the endowment of other colleges. For the pur- 
chase of but a little, almost useless, and now 
nearly neglected appendage to the college of 
physicians and surgeons — Hosack's botanical 
garden — a sum has been given which alone would 
place the all-important institution, now advocat- 
ed, on a respectable footing. After this, an en- 
dowment of such an institution as this cannot be 
consistently refused. 

If then an agricultural college is of the impor- 
tance thus clearly evinced, — if the best interests 



21 

of the community so eminently depend on it^—If 
numbers of youth in the wealthiest families must 
without it, be abandoned to dissipation, and finally 
to ruin — If the perplexities, despair, and melan- 
choly prospects of their parents, in regard to the 
destinies of their children, can be removed only 
by it, and if capital to an immense amount, other- 
wise devoted to annihilation in the sinks of prodi- 
gality and vice, can by it be drawn into the most 
productive employment, then surely must the ag- 
ricultural college share the patronage of govern- 
ment, at least equally with others ; nay, it must 
become the DARLING FAVORITE. 

There is another aspect of this institution not 
unworthy of serious meditation. Men filling the 
professions, exclusively called the literary, have too 
great a preponderance in our political machinery. 
This necessarily results from their qualifications, 
derived from a superior education, giving them a 
superior power to accomplish their purposes, and 
which, directed by an esprit du corps, as it una- 
voidably must be, cannot be expected always to 
harmonize with the general interests of the com- 
munity. It has been observed, and not altogeth- 
er without reason, that in some places, the clergy 
have had too much of a controling influence over 
the politics of a state. Of such an aristocracy 
however, this state, we are proud to say, has had 
no reason to complain, and has nothing to fear. 
But the greatest evil of this kind, in our country 
in general, is most to be apprehended from the 



• 28 

profession of law. Every one on reflection, must 
perceive the extent of the present existence of this 
evil, and may conjecture to what, without a reme- 
dy, it will ultimately grow. 

The profession of law is considered, more than 
any other, as directly in the line of promotion to 
the highest offices, and therefore, like lottery gam- 
blers, aiming at the highest prize, most ambitious 
families destine some of their branches for it ; but 
the profession becoming thereby overstocked, 
numbers are necessitated to intrigue for measures 
specially favorable to their individual interests, 
and which may raise them to more fortunate sta- 
tions. And thus are their superior acquirements, 
for want of a sufficient counterpoise, successfully 
employed with other views than the promotion of 
the public good. When markets are glutted with 
any commodities, the ingenuity of traders will be 
stretched to the utmost for discovering ways by 
which they may dispose of them, and necessity too 
often urges them to the adoption of unjustifiable 
means to effect their purposes. Not a few of the 
lawyers of the inferior grades, it is believed, are in 
similar circumstances, and obliged to resort to 
a similar sinsiter conduct. 

For the truth of these remarks let me appeal to 
general knowledge. Is there a village or town 
in which the little oracle is not a lawyer ? Is there 
any office in it worth possessing which is not most- 
ly held by a lawyer? Is there any caucus for nom- 
inating candidates for offices where lawyers have 



29 

not too great an influence over the votes of the 
meeting ? Are there any appointments of conse- 
quence to be made which are not directly or in- 
directly, at least attempted to be, dictated by law- 
yers ? Are there any political projects formed 
in which lawyers do not take the principal lead ? 
Are there any sycophants or parasites entwining 
themselves about those who are supposed to have 
the most influence with the general government, 
of whom lawyers do not compose the greatest 
number ? May not these questions, with but few 
exceptions, be all answered in the negative? Thus 
then it is inferred, that the profession of law forms 
an aristocracy which virtually rules the nation ; 
and it must necessarily be so, as long as there is 
in other departments such a dearth of talents suf- 
ficiently improved for the business of government 
in all its branches. 

These animadversions on the profession of law, 
as at present existing in our country, are by no 
means intended to disparage the profession ; on 
the contrary, it must be confessed that to it we 
are indebted for the greatest blessings of gov- 
ernment, the due investigation and correct dis- 
crimination of the rights of the people, and the 
execution of the laws for their security and 
protection. An honest, well qualified lawyer, 
with suitable dispositions, in any community, can 
be one of its most extensive public benefactors. 
To him the oppressed may flee, with a consoling 
confidence, as to a guardian angel, and be sure of 



^30 

relief. But the evil which has been noticed, and 
which in its progress is considered to have an as- 
pect sufficiently malign to justify apprehensions of 
its dangerous growth, arises from the superabun- 
dance of the numbers annually added to the pro- 
fession, and the want of talents, elsewhere, to 
form a counterpoise to its preponderating weight. 
But we cannot pull up the tares, lest thereby we 
destroy the wheat also. 

The most essential, if not the only remedy for 
this evil then is, to introduce more men of accom- 
plished education into the agricultural department, 
men who shall have discernment sufficient to de- 
tect the tendency of sinister measures that may be 
artfully projected, and the masked batteries that 
may be raised in hostility to the public good, and 
be able to meet the champions of them with their 
own weapons, and with equal dexterity in the use 
of them. It is believed that nothing better can be 
devised, for bringing about this most desirable 
reformation, than the proposed agricultural col- 
lege, and the dissemination of similar institutions 
throughout the nation : and if so, this view of it 
urges, with additional force, the necessity of its 
adoption, for giving a still higher finish to our al- 
ready most wonderfully improved political fabric ; 
the most perfect existing model of government ; 
the wonder and the envy of the world. 

In our ordinary institutions we have been the 
mere copyists of foreign establishments. The 
happy peculiarities of our country require some- 



31 

thing different ; and it would be an eternal blot 
on the American character if we had not the geni- 
us and the boldness to tread out of the paths tra- 
ced in barbarous times, and pursue a course sui- 
ted to this new world, so very different from the 
old ; especially in regard to the matter now con- 
templated, which so eminently involves the high- 
est interests of our country. Let it then belong to 
the state of New- York, to give birth to an institu- 
tion, which, if the view now taken of the subject 
be correct, will exceed all others in immediate 
and most lasting substantial utility. She will then 
have the praise of being the mother of agricultu- 
ral schools, by which the cultivation of the earth, 
in the best possible known manner, will be taught, 
and ultimately improved to the highest possible 
state of perfection. 

One other very important effect will be produ- 
ced by such an institution. Comparisons will be 
made between the practice of those who are edu- 
cated in it, and those who are brought up to far- 
ming in the ordinary way ; and thereby an emu- 
lation will be excited that will cause exertions, 
which would not otherwise be made, for making 
continual further approximations to the maximum 
of improvement. 

What the precise construction, organization 
and discipline of the agricultural college ought to 
be, I shall not at present presume to define. They 
ought to be well digested in the outset, but what- 
ever may be the wisdom engaged in it, like all 



32 

other institutions, time only can bring it to perfec- 
tion. Experience must teach what will finally 
make it what it ought to be, to answer all its in- 
tended purposes. The outlines of it only can 
now be attempted. 

As usual, its concerns will be committed to a 
board of trustees. Its faculty will consist of a 
president and professors of the several branches 
to be taught, the chief of which will be one for 
the theory and another for the practice of agricul- 
ture, besides others for such appendant branches 
as may be judged necessary, particularly chemis- 
try and botany. What the business of each is to be 
may be easily conceived, except that of the profes- 
sor of practical agriculture, who is to be literal- 
ly what the title imports, and whose duties it may 
not be amiss more minutely to consider, as it is he 
who is to make him, who is previously or simul- 
taneously instructed in the necessary scientific 
parts, the perfect practical farmer. 

Much will depend on the choice of this profes- 
sor. He should himself understand all that re- 
lates to the theory, and besides have been so far 
engaged in the actual practice of farming as lo be 
thoroughly acquainted with all the methods alrea- 
dy successfully adopted. He must be capable of 
making all prescribed experiments in the best 
manner, and of stating true comparisons between 
their results and the customary practice : He must 
know how to make all the arrangements for the 
work to be done,, and direct every part of it tort* 



33 

proper end, so as to produce the best and greatest 
effects with the least loss of time. On this faculty 
more depends than is generally conceived ; for it is 
a well known fact that by skilful management one 
person will obtain much more from his laborers 
than another, although both may in other respects 
understand their business equally well. 

This professor will of course have the superin- 
tendence and direction of the labor of the students 
in the field. What will be required of them 
there next demands consideration. It has alrea- 
dy been observed that they must learn to work ; 
and this is to be an essential object of the institu- 
tion, for without knowing how to perform, with 
their own hands, every kind of work belonging to 
the profession they intend to pursue, they never 
can become sufficiently acquainted with it or 
Qualified to conduct it to advantage. 

It will be readily perceived that to such an in- 
stitution must belong a farm of sufficient extent 
and variety of soil for all the practice and experi- 
ments that may be required to carry its views in* 
to the completest effect ; and this farm is to be 
made not only instructive, but, if possible, profita- 
ble also. For certain regularly allotted portions of 
time, the students are to be employed on it and 
practice every species of work that may be requi- 
site ; such as plowing, harrowing, sowing, plan- 
ting, reaping, hay-making, threshing and prepar- 
ing every thing for market ; and they are to be prac- 
tically instructed in the selection, qualities, man- 

E 



34 

agement and value of cattle ; in short in every 
thing with which a farmer ought to be thoroughly 
acquainted, and which he ought to be able to do. 

Instead of giving formal lectures, this professor, 
who must constantly attend his classes while 
thus engaged, will, during the progress of their 
work, explain to them the best manner in which 
every thing is to be done, the reason of it, and the 
errors that are or may be committed in it ; on all 
which, the students will be required to make notes 
and comments at their hours of relaxation, and 
undergo examinations at stated times. And as 
hired laborers will besides be necessary, the very 
best should be selected to give examples of the 
most proper manner of performing every branch 
of business, and of the time in which it can and 
ought to be done. 

The knowledge of gardening;, inoculating, graf- 
ting, and the best manner of propogating fruit 
trees and shrubberies, will also be taught by en- 
gaging the students in the same way in actual 
practice. 

Every farmer ought to be able to repair his im* 
plements when out of order, without suffering, on 
every such occasion, the loss of time and expense 
to which the sending for the proper mechanic 
would subject him. A workshop provided with 
all necessary tools will therefore properly be a part 
of the establishment. Some exercise here will 
give to all the students an agreeable variety of 
employment, and to those who have a mechanical' 



35 

turn it will be as gratifying as useful. Here aU 
so ought to be collected models of all the best 
implements of husbandry, of which the respective 
merits will not only be explained by the proper 
professor but proved by actual trial. 

Books will be kept in which will be entered in 
detail, all the transactions of the farm, and perio- 
dical statements of results, with accounts of pro- 
fit and loss ; and these the professors may make 
the subjects of useful and profitable lectures. 

Public examinations on theory and practice, and 
exhibitions of work will be appointed, honors 
awarded and diplomas given as evidences of su- 
perior merit on a completion of education. And 
these when justly estimated, as undoubtedly they 
will be, must give title to a precedence before 
those who hold licences for following any of the 
liberal professions. 

Here will also be taught, both by precept and 
example, that frugality, temperance and economy, 
of time as well as of expense, which are equally 
essential with skill in the profession for its success- 
ful prosecution ; lessons of the utmost importance 
to those young gentlemen who may have been 
contaminated by the customs of cities ; customs, 
which besides fostering idleness and dissipation, 
prescribe innumerable costly delicacies, as use- 
less to adults as pernicious to children. And 
it is sincerely to be regretted, that so many 
of the farmers of our country depart from a 
better manner of living for the purpose of aping, 



36 

in an awkward way, the more irrational style in- 
troduced, partly by necessity, and partly by a ri- 
diculous vanity, among the inhabitants of cities, 
By such frugality and economy will be taught the 
secret, of possessing, at all times in abundance, 
the means of a better living than such citizens en- 
joy ; if by better living be understood what is 
more according to nature, more highly relished by 
an unvitiated palate, and more conducive to 
health, the sine qua non of every enjoyment. 

It is well known that there are men laboring un- 
der an incurable infirmity, or delicacy of constitu- 
tion, for which is assigned, as the most probable 
cause, their having been pampered, when young, 
with fashionable dainties. To have the effects of 
such practioes corrected, as early and as effectually 
as possible, is therefore, to any such unfortunate 
individual, a matter of the highest importance, and 
to do this will be one, among the many other 
good offices of the proposed institution. Foreign 
luxuries will be discarded, and the food will be, as 
it ought to be. with every agriculturalist as far as 
possible, the sole produce of the farm, and that 
will be made, independent of all other sources, to 
yield in abundance, all the prime luxuries of life. 

If by means of the proposed institution, or by any 
means whatever, foreign luxuries could be abol- 
ished, or only retrenched to reasonable bounds, 
how much would it annually save to our country! 
how much to individual families ! and how much 
would it contribute to the constitutional stamina 



37 

of the American people ! I allude chiefly to tea, 
coffee an J spirituous liquors. The embarrass- 
ments of our country at this time are ascribed 
chieflv to the abstraction of specie from us, direct- 
ly by our commerce with Asia, and indirectly by 
our commerce with the West Indies, for articles 
which make no part of the necessaries of life, and 
most of which, such is the unaccountable caprice 
and tyranny of custom, are a perverse substitution 
for articles produced by our own farms, greatly 
superior in every quality to gratify the palate or 
to give nourishment to the body. Time was 
when tea and coffee were almost unknown in our 
country, and happy for us would it be if such a 
time should return, and that such things should 
only make an occasional variety in our entertain- 
ments and cease to be, as they now are, articles 
of daily use. They contain extremely little of 
nourishment if any at all ; what then is the use 
of them ? It is said that they possess something 
of a narcotic quality, and thence arises the tempo- 
rary refreshment attributed to them, and thence 
also the attachment to them which their daily use 
so strongly establishes. But it is an undoubted 
fact, that no person without such use will acquire 
a relish for them, and therefore are additions made 
to them, as to other nauseous drugs, in order to 
render them palatable, and to decoy children in- 
to the use of them. Children look to the conduct 
of their parents for information about what is es- 
timable, and if they see them prize any thing high- 



38 

ly in the daily business of eating and drinking^ 
they will, even if they have a natural aversion to 
it, gradually force themselves into the use of it till 
habit makes it desirable. How important to 
children is the example of parents ! 

Breakfasts and suppers of milk, with bread, or 
mush, or hasty pudding as it is called in the east- 
ern states, would always be preferred by them if 
it was not for the example of their parents, or at- 
tendants, by which they are thus tempted into the 
useof those deleterious drugs, procured at a great 
and utterly useless expense, by us who have in the 
productions of our farms, such an abundance of 
better things. Such children, if not thus corrup- 
ted, would all their liveslons^, preserve such a pre- 
ference, and ever lament that they are compelled 
by custom, and the habits of their associates, to 
submit to a privation of their favorite meals. The 
inhabitants of cities, who have to pay six-pence 
and eight-pence for every quart of milk, and who, 
for a stinted indulgence of their families with this 
wholesome luxury, have to pay fifty or sixty dol- 
lars a year, may be excusable for not furnishing 
their children with it without limitation : but with 
farmers, whocommonly have it in abundance, and 
yet force their children to use tea and coffee in- 
stead of it, it is absolutely a sin against nature. 

But admitting that by thus reasoning we are 
convinced of the impropriety of the custom, how 
is it to be abolished 1 It is true, nothing can ap- 
pear more romantic than a project for effecting a 



39 

material alteration in long established national 
habits. With adults it is impossible ; but by 
commencing with infancy in its earliest stages, it is 
not absolutely impracticable, for the human being 
as come from the hands of the Creator, is compo- 
sed of such pliable materials that it can be moul- 
ded into any shape, which time will harden and 
render unalterable. But, one of the essential 
means for this is the example of adults, and how 
can that be procured ? Universally it cannot, but 
in individual cases it may, and these may be mul- 
tiplied till the effect shall become more and more 
general. 

Among the premiums offered by the agricultural 
societies, let there be some liberal ones for every 
new married couple settled in the farming busi- 
ness, who shall, with certain necessary exceptions, 
discard tea, coffee and imported sugars altogeth- 
er from their family, for a certain number of 
years. After having thus experienced the econ- 
omy and other advantages of living in this manner, 
there will be no danger that they or their chil- 
dren will afterwards forsake it. The eclat and re- 
putation which will thus be given to this style of 
living, and the salutary consequences which will 
be seen in it, will induce others voluntarily to adopt 
it, and such a reformation, once commenced, we 
may hope, will proceed with a continued accelera- 
ted pace till it shall finally become universal. The 
simple fact, then first brought to the knowledge of 
the public by the interest which the most respecta- 



40 

ble characters will take in it, that the prevailing 
custom is not innocent, and that it will be consi- 
dered honorable and meritorious to adopt the man- 
ner of living for which prizes are offered, will 
probably be sufficient with many to induce them to 
conform their domestic management to it. 

At the same time let a liberal additional pre- 
mium be offered to him who shall be entitled to 
the ordinary premium for the best managed farm, 
if no spirtuous liquors shall have been given to his 
laborers or permitted to be used by them while 
engaged in his service. 

If cheering or exhilerating beverages are neces- 
sary, and some thing of the kind seems, from the 
practice of all ages, to be allowable, if not actually 
beneficial, while reason does not condemn their 
use in moderation, we have them of the most in- 
noxious kind and the most grateful variety, with- 
out resorting to places beyond our own territories 
for them. Our cider, were it not for the unac- 
countable prejudices of taste, would be deemed 
superior to the ordinary wines of Europe ; and ev- 
ery family, with a little instruction in the process, 
could make its own beer of sufficient excellence, 
or it might be had from the best brewers by a rea- 
dy exchange of produce. To send our money a- 
broad for any such luxuries cannot then be consi- 
dered otherwise than as a wanton waste of proper- 
ty and a mistaken apprehension of what is neces- 
sary to support true dignity of character. 



41 

A family of middling size will, in the course of a 
year, use thirty-five dollars worth of coffee, and 
probably its tea and sugar for suppers will cost 
as much, making seventy dollars. This is a 
serious sum to be paid every year for mere luxur- 
ies by any farmer, and especially by new begin- 
ners : It is the interest of one thousand dollars, for 
which a little farm might be bought and many a 
good one rented. But this is only a part of the 
useless expenses of our countrymen. Add to it 
what is laid out for spiritous liquors without taking 
into the account unnecessary fineries of foreign 
manufacture, and many other useless items, and 
the amount will appear still more serious. 

If anything can be done towards this reforma- 
tion by the agricultural college, thus seconded by 
agricultural societies, the immense good it may do 
even in this incidental branch of its objects, pre- 
sents its importance in a point of view that must 
still more forcibly arrest our attention. 

Here an enchanting picture might be drawn of 
the happiness which will intermingle itself with 
the little hardships of the tasks to be performed by 
the young gentlemen that shall fill such a college ; 
tasks which, notwithstanding the sternness of 
their aspect, as pourtrayed in this treatise, will, by 
habit, have every repulsive feature obliterated, and 
become attractive by the group of pleasures that 
will, on a more intimate acquaintance, be found 
playing around them ; but enough has already 
been said to give an idea of what the y agricultural 

F 



42 

College is intended to be, and what may be ex- 
pected from it. I shall take leave of the subject 
by recommending it to the serious consideration 
of the legislature, confident that, if it be deliber- 
ately examined, there will be a unanimous dispo- 
sition to give it a being, and a support commen- 
surate with the importance of the purposes intend- 
ed to be effected by it. 

The reader is requested to make the following corrections. 

Page 7, line 18, for master read masters. 

11, 3, 4, from the bottom, instead of, that immor- 
tal fame which he acquired, read ob' 
tabling an immortal fame. 

22, 7, from the bottom, after harvest read and. 

23, 15, for most read some. 

30, 10, for essential read effectual 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




